I love the Nes, but there are still tons of games I don't own for it, and therefore have not really played alot (like Castlevania 3, embarrassing enough), hpwever, this is my list:

10. Castlevania
9. Ducktales
8. Super Mario Bros
7. Bubble Bobble
6. Mega Man 3
5. Contra
4. Ninja Gaiden
3. Zelda 2
2. Mega Man 2
1. Super Mario Bros. 3

The TMNT game to the Nes is vastly underrated in my opinion, like any game that gets picked on by the Nerd (AVGN). Also, the Batman game for Nes is awesome, so nice choice there!

The second game is the best imo, with the original X game a close second and MM3 an even closed third. However, I generally think that Mega Man 4-6 gets to much crap, they are all decent games and in my opinion vastly superior to Mega Man 1.

So, I have been playing Battle of Olympus for the last two evenings, and from what I remembered of the game, it was a classic and I was surprised to not see it in sydlexias top 100 nes games. However, after playing it, and getting quite far in it, I must say that the game was a lot more flawed than I remembered. Still a decent game, but when used to something like Zelda 2 or even Faxanadu, a lot of the design decisions in this game becomes really questionable imo. I have most issues with the secrets, which are simply impossible to find without knowing them from before (or a guide), or accidentally finding them. Always a bad design decision in my book if a game is as difficult as this one, because you really need the extra life you get from the secrets if you want to complete it.

Also, the fact that you only have one life means that storaging olives becomes a real chore - since you lose half of them every time you die - and the checkpoint system is not very helpful either. In Zelda 2 - which gets a lot of hate for this - you could at least die three times (and possibly more if you found a few lives) before you were sent back to the palace - here it's one time, and you loose half your money and return to the start of the region you're in. Not very funny, especially not in the mountain-stage that I am in now.

And what the fuck is up with the movement of your enemies? I know games like this usually are a bit cheap, but seriously. The already mentioned Zelda 2 and Faxanadu and other games like the Castlevanias manage to be highly difficult without resorting to enemies with the crazy pattern like the centaurs or the snakes here. And what's up with all enemies being to small for you to hit them even when you crouch? Seriously, the first fucking enemy in the game, which is supposed to be really easy, is not even possible to hit unless it jumps - which it does, but only in a very untimely manner. It does not make it difficult to annihilate it - but it does make it extremely frustrating, and its not good game design.

Anyways, there is of course also a lot of good things to say about the game which keeps me playing it. The control of Orpheus is good, the world is really well fleshed out for a NES-game, with lots of people to talk to, and tons of greek mythological creatures - which makes the game really interesting to keep on playing, at least for me, as I always want to see what comes next. Also, the upgrade system is great, and the non-linear exploration-based gameplay is something I love when games have the courage to do.

So all in all, its a good experience. But a very frustrating one.

slapolakinkaido wrote:

If you thought Zelda II was hard, think again! Holy shit here comes Battle of Olympus! Zelda II was definately challenging in it's own right, but BoO is fucking insane. I think it took me about 13 years (off and on playing) before I finally beat it. I still enjoy it though. Definately a good game only if you're patient.

Yeah, I agree with this. I just did beat the game on my Nes now, and while the action-part of the difficulty is probably about the same, or even a bit easier than Zelda 2, the cryptic or non-existant clues you get to find a lot of important things, makes this game simply insanely difficult to complete. Unless of course, you did what I had to do a few times, resort to a walkthrough. Its a cheap solution, but it is in my opinion better than looking all over for something when there really is no way to know how to find it.

Anyways, I really enjoyed the game, even though it had its fair share of frustration, and I would definitely recommend it to everybody with a Nes. However, keep a walkthrough nearby - you just don't want to spend hours looking for those dam amborias without it.